Have you looked at the BBC schedules for prime time recently? During the week almost everything starts on the hour or half hour because the programmes are custom made to fill 30 or 60 minute slots with ads.

Likewise they Sky schedule has almost everything starting on the hour or half hour, but their programmes are most custom made for US networks that show up to 20 minutes of ads and trailers per hour.

I can't see the use of odd start times or 20 minutes of filler per hour doing anything to help Sky's ratings.

So? We've all got PVRs these days (or will have if we get HDTV) so don't care when something is broadcast.

Not true. I watch/record a lot of TV and I've got Sky+ but that still limits me to only two simultaneous programmes. Some nights the only thing that lets me sqeeze in everything I want is because the peak time prorgrammes on most channels are starting and finishing on the hour or half hour. If BBC1 or Sky1 suddenly started scheduling spooks at 8:50 pm or Cold Case at 9:45 pm then there would be a lot more overlapping of programmes.

Besides, if "We've all got PVRs these days" then why bother about the adverts in the first place? It only takes seconds to skip past them.

How are you paying twice? You pay your subscription and the advertisers pay to reach you, the audience. I understand what you're saying but we aren't paying for the advertising and likewise, we're not paying for advertising free broardcasting.

I watch/record a lot of TV and I've got Sky+ but that still limits me to only two simultaneous programmes. Some nights the only thing that lets me sqeeze in everything I want is because the peak time prorgrammes on most channels are starting and finishing on the hour or half hour. If BBC1 or Sky1 suddenly started scheduling spooks at 8:50 pm or Cold Case at 9:45 pm then there would be a lot more overlapping of programmes.

Actually I hadn't noticed that they were doing so much more stuff on the hour and half hour, as I've lived on a PVR diet since 2000 and don't watch live stuff aprt from news and sport. Of course they may say that start end end on the hour, but the reality is often rather different, especially with BBc2.

If you are hitting the need for three recordings at once with no alternative showings for any of the three the you are indeed a heavy consumer of TV. Surprised you have time to post here!

I think I get one or two unresolvable conflicts a month on my dual tuner system.

How are you paying twice? You pay your subscription and the advertisers pay to reach you, the audience. I understand what you're saying but we aren't paying for the advertising and likewise, we're not paying for advertising free broardcasting.

I'm not an economics expert, but many on here claim we pay for the adverts through purchasing the products. Regardless in such a premium product I'd rather they just showed programs. Not that I'm anti-advertising at all, I watch plenty FTA commercial TV, just paying to watch adverts annoys me. I'd pay a greater subscription to not have to watch them and DOGs, but that isn't an option.